Means and method for attaching a hair piece to the hair

ABSTRACT

Hair piece clips are used to affix a hair piece in adjacent relation to the natural hair on a balding head. Several hair piece clips are sewed into the outer edges of the underside of the flexible webbing or wefting of a hair piece. Each clip consists of a flat, resilient, U-shape base having three openings therethrough for sewing the clip to the hair piece and a holding arm pivotally mounted at an inner end to be movable from open position to closed position within the side walls of the U-shape base to carry the natural hairs down around the arm to be temporarily fixedly positioned or trapped within the base. Resilient means in the clip tends to hold the arm in its closed position, there being an upstanding finger piece on the outer end of the arm which remains outside of the base where it can easily be engaged by a fingernail of a user to move the arm from the closed position to release the trapped hairs and to release the hair piece from the head.

United States Patent Greer MEANS AND METHOD FOR ATTACHING A HAIR PIECE TO THE HAIR Primary Examiner-G. E. McNeill 1 June 17, 1975 [57] ABSTRACT Hair piece clips are used to affix a hair piece in adjacent relation to the natural hair on a balding head. Several hair piece clips are sewed into the outer edges of the underside of the flexible webbing or wefting of a hair piece. Each clip consists of a flat, resilient, U- shape base having three openings therethrough for sewing the clip to the hair piece and a holding arm pivotally mounted at an inner end to be movable from open position to closed position within the side walls of the U-shape base to carry the natural hairs down around the arm to be temporarily fixedly positioned or trapped within the base. Resilient means in the clip tends to hold the arm in its closed position, there being an upstanding finger piece on the outer end of the arm which remains outside of the base where it can easily be engaged by a fingernail of a user to move the arm from the closed position to release the trapped hairs and to release the hair piece from the head.

8 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures MEANS AND METHOD FOR ATTACIIING A HAIR PIECE TO 'II-IIE HAIR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention has relation to means for temporarily attaching hair pieces or hair replacements to the head of a partially bald user. Many means and methods have been suggested for accomplishing this purpose.

Specifically, it has been proposed many times and in many different ways that such hair pieces be held in place using the adjacent natural hairs growing from the head of the user. Patents which disclose this method of attaching hair pieces include the following: US. Pat. Nos. 2,621,663; Dec. 16, 1952; C. J. Jenkins; 2,865,380; Dec. 23, 1958; P. Mitchell; 3,273,570; Sept. 20, 1966; E. Allison; 3,476,122; Nov. 4, 1969; A. Zaupa; 3,605,761; Sept. 20, 1971; R. A. Magro; 3,642,010; Feb. 15, 1972; A. Kuris; 3,651,820; Mar. 28, 1972; R. L. Johnson et al; 3,654,935; Apr. 11, 1972; M. Brown; 3,659,621; May 2, 1972; J. Tucciarone et a1; 3,695,278; Oct. 3, 1972; A. Rieger et a1; 3,811,453; May 21, 1974; C. Bretton.

All prior art methods known to applicant for utilizing natural hair to anchor hair pieces suffer from the basic problem that the natural hair must grow and so the fastening between the natural hair and the hair piece must be periodically adjusted or completely reconstituted to hold the hair piece closely adjacent the head.

In the case of the method and means disclosed in the above mentioned patents to Bretton, US. Pat. Nos. 3,811,453, and to Kuris, 3,642,010, the natural hairs are fused to each other or to the commercial hair using quick setting liquid bonding agents or thermo plastic bonding agents, for example. As the hair grows out, using these methods, this fusion must be completely done over; or, in other words, a refusion process must take place.

In the case of the patent to Magro, US. Pat. No. 3,605,761, long strands or tufts of natural hair are strung through provided openings in the hair piece, and an anchor member is permanently attached to all the ends of the hair forming each tuft. As the hair grows out, the anchor member can be rewound on its tuft to hold the hair piece close to the head. This method and all of the other methods of the prior art listed above suffer from the severe problem that the same individual hair shafts must be tensioned over and over again; or, worse yet, must be kept in constant tension. Localized hair loss in young people due to constant fastening or banding of hair in pony tails is well known and has been traced to the continual tensioning of the hair roots by the hair shafts. In a similar manner, natural hair used to anchor hair pieces is also damaged and will fall out. Thus in the case of the disclosure of the Magro patent, and in all of the other art of record, the very act of using a limited number of natural hair shafts over extended periods to hold a hair piece to cover the substantial loss of hair does, in and of itself, accelerate the loss of those hairs which are remaining.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A plurality of hair clips are permanently sewed around interior underneath edge portions of a hair piece to facilitate installation of the piece on the head of a partially bald person. These clips include a flat U- shape base and a holding arm pivotally mounted therein at an inner end of the arm. The hair piece is put into its desired location on the head of a user, and the arm is closed down on a number of natural hairs immediately adjacent to it to trap these hairs between it and opposite resilient side walls of the U-shape base. Resilient means in the clip, including the resilient side walls of the base, tend to maintain the arm and base in fixed holding relationship with respect to these hairs until it is desired that the hair piece be removed.

A finger piece at the outer end of the arm remains outside of the base and is accessible to swing the arm toward open position outwardly of the base to release the trapped hairs and allow the hair piece to be removed from the head.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a partially bald person and a hair piece in alignment with a bald spot to be covered;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view ofa hair piece and showing the hair piece clips of the invention affixed thereto;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a portion ofa hair piece and ofa head on which the hair piece is to be installed, showing a hair piece clip of the invention in the process of being moved into trapping relationship with respect to natural hairs on the head;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken generally on the line 44 in FIG. 3 but showing the clip after hairs have been trapped in the clip;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a clip of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken on the line 6-6 in FIGS. 5 and 7 and showing a plurality of natural hairs trapped in the clip; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 in FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A hair piece clip 10 of the present invention includes a generally flat, U-shape base 12 and a trapping and holding arm 14 freely pivotally mounted at an inner end portion 15 thereof with respect to the base 12 by rivet 16. The U-shape base 12 includes flat, parallel, spaced-apart side walls 18,18 integrally joined together by a coextensive edge wall 20. A plurality of openings 22 are provided through each of the walls 18,18 and are for the purpose of receiving threads 24 for securing the hair piece clip 10 to outer edge portions of an underside of a hair piece 26. Three sets of such aligned openings are illustrated in the form of the invention as shown.

An outer end portion 28 of arm 14 includes an integral coplaner, bulbous finger piece 30.

A resilient spring 32, of wire as shown, has a hookshaped end portion 34 which is fixedly positioned in normally contiguous relationship with inner, facing surfaces of each of the side walls 18,18 of the base 12, and over the shanks of rivets 36 and 38 which are fastened through walls 18,18 through provided openings therein. Spring 32 also includes a generally straight shank end portion 40 integral with and extending smoothly outwardly from the hook-shaped end portion 34. When positioned as set out above, the spring will exert a force in the direction indicated by arrow 42 in FIG. 6.

As perhaps best seen in FIG. 6, trapping arm 14 is movable from an open position as seen in dotted lines in that figure to a closed position as seen in full lines therein. Inner end portion of arm 14 is partially defined by an open-position outer end camming surface 44; and this camming surface 44 will lie in contacting relationship to the generally straight shank portion 40 of the spring 32 to tend to maintain the arm in said open position, all as seen in dotted lines in FIG. 6. From this outer end surface 44 the edge of arm 14 facing toward edge wall of the base 12 is defined by a gently curving surface 46 which extends toward and includes the edge of outer end portion 28 thereof. This provides, when arm 14 is in the closed position, a camming peak 48 which comes into contact with spring 32 to the right of and below rivet 16 as seen in FIG. 6 thus causing spring 32 to exert a force on the arm 14 tending to resist movement of it from out of the closed position.

INSTALLATION OF HAIR PIECE With a plurality of hair piece clips 10 sewed to the underside of hair piece 26 as seen in FIG. 2 and as indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 1, the hair piece is positioned over a bald spot 50 on a balding head 52, and is held in its desired location to cover that spot. One edge of the hair piece is turned up to uncover one of the clips as perhaps best indicated in FIG. 3, and the arm 14 of that clip is moved to open position. A number of natural living hairs 54 on the head 52 are moved to position between edge surface 46 of the arm and the upper edge of walls 18,18 of base 12. The arm is then moved toward closed position as seen in FIG. 3, and this movement is continued until natural living hairs 54 are trapped between the arm 14 and the facing, parallel interior surfaces of the side walls 18,18 of the base 12, as best seen in FIGS. 6 and 7. These side walls 18,18 are spaced apart sufficiently to come in contact with the outside diameter of the spring 32 and the flat sides of arm 14. Putting two or more layers of the hairs 54 between the arm 14 and the interior surfaces of walls 18,18 will cause the upper portions of these walls to be sprung outwardly, as best seen and suggested in FIG. 7. The natural resilience of these walls tends to hold the hairs 54 firmly in place even as the resilience of spring 32, acting on camming peak 48 at the inner end portion 15 of the arm 14 tends to hold that arm down in trapping relationship to these hairs.

This action will be repeated for each of the clips 10, and when this has been accomplished, the hair piece 26 will be firmly positioned in closely adjacent relation to the head 52.

In the case of the methods and means for attaching hair pieces to balding heads through the use of living hairs as set out in the prior art, such attachments are involved, difficult to make, and are designed to be made at widely spaced intervals because of these difficulties. Contrary to this, the method and means of attachment of the present invention are such that the hair piece can be taken off every night, or even several times a day if this should prove desirable.

Although a hair piece will customarily be positioned in approximately the same relationship to the balding spot on the head of a user, it will never be positioned in exactly and precisely the same relationship to that head, and thus, the same combination of hairs will never be utilized in fastening the hair piece to the head on successive and repeated occasions. A relatively small number of hairs, typically 10 to 12 will suffice to be trapped in each clip; so from the hundreds of hairs available in near relationship to each clip, the chances that a particular hair will be damaged by being used over and over again are exceedingly remote.

When it is desired to remove the hair piece from the head 52, typically a fingernail is inserted between the bulbous finger piece 30 and the upper edges of the walls 18,18 at position indicated at 56, and the fingernail is used against the action of the spring 32 on camming peak 48 and against the resilient action of the walls 18,18 on the hairs 54 to move the arm 14 toward open position. This will release the hairs 54. After all of the clips have been thus opened, the hair piece can be removed.

It is to be noted that all of the fastening and unfastening motions required can easily be learned by the person possessing head 52, either with or without the use of a mirror; and after a certain degree of proficiency has been acquired, there is no need for any mirror or anyone to help that person to properly fasten and/or release the hair piece.

Many materials are suitable for producing hair piece clips of the present invention, but 25 gauge cold drawn aluminum has been found to be particularly satisfactory for use as a material to make base 12, 21 gauge cold drawn aluminum to make the arm 14, and 20 gauge stainless steel to make spring 32. Aluminum rivets can be used, and nickel electrolysis or anodizing to a pink or gray color has proved very satisfactory to tend to camouflage the clips from identification by observers of the head 52.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A hair piece clip for attaching a hair piece to natural living hair growing on a head;

A. said clip including:

1. a generally flat, U-shaped base including a pair of flat, generally parallel, spaced apart, resilient side walls and an edge wall fixedly positioning the side walls with respect to each other, and

2. an arm pivotally mounted between said side walls at a first inner end portion of said arm, said arm being movable between a first open position wherein most of said arm is out from between said side walls and a second closed position wherein said arm is substantially entirely between said walls;

B. means for attaching said base of said clip to a hair piece;

C. the relationship of the width of the arm to the distance between said side walls being such that when said arm is moved from said first to said second position with natural living hair bridging the space between said side walls in the path of said arm, the natural hair is carried ahead of the arm and is trapped between the arm and opposed facing surfaces of said walls; and

D. releasable means for holding said arm in said second position.

2. The clip of claim 1 wherein said releasable means to hold said arm in said second position includes a resilient spring between said base walls and operative on said arm when in said second position to tend to maintain said arm in said second position.

3. The clip of claim 2 wherein said spring is operative on said arm when said arm is in said first position to tend to maintain said arm in said first position.

ing against the trapped hair and the arm.

7. The clip of claim 6 wherein a second outer end portion of said arm includes an overhanging finger piece which remains outside the base when said arm is in said second position; and wherein said releasable means also includes said finger piece.

8. The clip of claim 1 wherein said means for attaching said base to a hair piece includes openings provided through said base. 

1. A hair piece clip for attaching a hair piece to natural living hair growing on a head; A. said clip including:
 1. a generally flat, U-shaped base including a pair of flat, generally parallel, spaced apart, resilient side walls and an edge wall fixedly positioning the side walls with respect to each other, and
 2. an arm pivotally mounted between said side walls at a first inner end portion of said arm, said arm being movable between a first open position wherein most of said arm is out from between said side walls and a second closed position wherein said arm is substantially entirely between said walls; B. means for attaching said base of said clip to a hair piece; C. the relationship of the width of the arm to the distance between said side walls being such that when said arm is moved from said first to said second position with natural living hair bridging the space between said side walls in the path of said arm, the natural hair is carried ahead of the arm and is trapped between the arm and opposed facing surfaces of said walls; and D. releasable means for holding said arm in said second position.
 2. an arm pivotally mounted between said side walls at a first inner end portion of said arm, said arm being movable between a first open position wherein most of said arm is out from between said side walls and a second closed position wherein said arm is substantially entirely between said walls; B. means for attaching said base of said clip to a hair piece; C. the relationship of the width of the arm to the distance between said side walls being such that when said arm is moved from said first to said second position with natural living hair bridging the space between said side walls in the path of said arm, the natural hair is carried ahead of the arm and is trapped between the arm and opposed facing surfaces of said walls; and D. releasable means for holding said arm in said second position.
 2. The clip of claim 1 wherein said releasable means to hold said arm in said second position includes a resilient spring between said base walls and operative on said arm when in said second position to tend to maintain said arm in said second position.
 3. The clip of claim 2 wherein said spring is operative on said arm when said arm is in said first position to tend to maintain said arm in said first position.
 4. The clip of claim 1 wherein said releasable means to hold said arm includes said resilient side walls pressing against the trapped hair and the arm.
 5. The clip of claim 4 wherein a second outer end portion of said arm includes an overhanging finger piece which remains outside the base when said arm is in said second position; and wherein said releasable means also includes said finger piece.
 6. The clip of claim 3 wherein said releasable means to hold said arm includes said resilient side walls pressing against the trapped hair and the arm.
 7. The clip of claim 6 wherein a second outer end portion of said arm includes an overhanging finger piece which remains outside the base when said arm is in said second position; and wherein said releasable means also includes said finger piece.
 8. The clip of claim 1 wherein said means for attaching said base to a hair piece includes openings provided through said base. 